Ringo Akai
Ringo Akai (赤井 りんご, Akai Ringo) is one of the main characters in the Tokyo Mew Mew PlayStation game. Her DNA is infused with the Humboldt Penguin. Plot Life as a Child Ringo lives on a nature reserve with her parents and older brother, Mashio Akai. Their mother died when they were young. She is alone most of the time and has no friend except for her pet penguin, Yuki, up to the point of meeting the other Mew Mews. As a result, she was very shy in the beginning but slowly warmed up to her new friends. Ringo refers to herself in third person like Bu-Ling and calls everybody except Bu-Ling "onee-chan", since they are the same age, and calls Mashio "onii-chan". She refers to Bu-Ling with the honorific "Chan" (An affectionate honorific commonly used with girls). Ringo admires Ichigo Momomiya and her older brother Mashio very much. Tokyo Mew Mew Video Game In the PS1 game, Ringo and the original five Mew Mews must defend Ringo's home island from Quiche Ikisatashi, the chimera anima, and a new alien named Gâteau du Roi after the group invades in search of Mew Aqua. Her Mew Aqua pendant necklace was given to her by her deceased mother. After Ringo's pet penguin Yuki (Japanese for "snow") transforms into a Chimera Anima, the pendant activates and allows her to transform into a Mew Mew. She was born on July 6th and is a Cancer. Personality Ringo's dead mother and her father are never shown, but it was mentioned in the game that her Mew Aqua pendant was a gift from her mother. She lives on a nature reserve island with her only sibling, her older brother Mashio, who bares a strong resemblance to Ichigo's boyfriend, Masaya Aoyama. She also lives with her pet penguin Yuki, whom at first was Ringo's only friend, resulting in Ringo being a bit shy. After meeting the Mew Mews, Ringo became more outgoing and is a good friend to the Mew Mews. She looks up to Mashio and Ichigo and always tries her best. She often takes night walks to get to places and defeat enemies. Ringo likes seafood, which is convenient since she lives on an island. She also likes apples and the color red. However, she dislikes crowds. Ringo never used to have any friends because she was isolated due to her living on her home island, so she used to be shy. Appearance Ringo has brown, choppy, shoulder-length hair. She wears a big red bow in her hair and has an ahoge. Ringo wears lots of red, white, and green clothing. She has light skin and brown eyes. When Ringo becomes Mew Ringo, her hair becomes a light hazel color. Her outfit is similar to Lettuce Midorikawa's and Ichigo's outfits. Her bodice top is red with the bottom going out in flower petal like attributes. In the back is larger fin like parts coming off. Her bottoms are white pantaloons with ruffles at the pant ends. The pantaloons go to about her mid-thigh. Her socks are white and come up to about mid-calf; her shoes are red high-heeled Mary Janes. The ribbon bow in her hair becomes larger and thicker. She wears no thigh band like the other Mews; she also wears a pair of long white gloves. Her choker and arm bands are red with white ruffles on it. It is unknown where her Mew mark is, or if she even has one. Ringo is the only Mew Mew that does not have a garter on her thigh. Abilities Transformation When Quiche transforms Yuki into a Chimera Anima, Ringo uses a Mew Aqua necklace from her mother to become Mew Ringo. Ringo does not have infused DNA like the other Mew Mews, so she wears a necklace containing Mew Aqua that, plus the combination of Yuki's penguin DNA, allows her to transform into Mew Ringo. The animal she represents is the Humboldt Penguin. Ringo uses a Power Pendant. The Power Pendant is a gold oval pendant with a red heart shaped outline on it. At the bottom is a red heart shaped crystal. Around the heart crystal are four smaller oval fittings with smooth red gems in them. Weapon and Attacks Ringo uses a wand that is similar to the Mew Aqua Rod called an Appletick , but she cannot attack without the help of another supporting Mew. The Appletick is a small stick with a red apple on top of it. Right under the apple is a tiny pink gem with four red petals coming off of it. The stick part is pink. Her normal power is Ribbon Apple Pop, which is a healing power. Her element is spirit. Ringo's powers include the DNA Infusion Ability. She uses it to understand animals, and was able to talk to Yuki, even though Yuki had been transformed into a Chimera Anima. Creation and Reception Both Ringo Akai and Gateau du Rowa were created by the original manga's artist, Mia Ikumi, following design specifications from Takara. Ikumi was pleased with how both characters turned out and expressed an interest in using Ringo as a regular character in a manga series in the future. Ikumi was also asked to name some of the weapons Ringo uses in the game: the Appletick and the Mew Pendant. Trivia *Even though she does not appear in the anime, Ringo has character songs just like the rest of the Mews, sung by Taeko Kawata. Her character songs are 'Rakuen wo Sagashite' (Looking for Paradise) and 'Iyashite Agetai' (I Want To Heal You) *Despite popular belief, Ringo and Ichigo Momomiya are not related. Many fans simply believe they are due to their similar appearances. *Ringo seems to be the only Mew Mew who does not gain an animal part upon transforming such as ears, a tail, etc. This is because she is not infused with DNA like the other Mew Mews. *Contrary to popular belief, Ringo, is the 6th Mew. She appears in the back of volume 6, which came out before A La Mode did.